The Carnival's in Town

The carnival’s in town

I’m taking my little brother

Meeting Cara there

Cotton candy

Hot roasted peanuts

The sugary heat of freshly fried funnel cakes

Shrieks and screams of pleasure resounding through the grounds

Littered with red tipped sticks

Sticky ice cream wrappers

Melting cubes spilled from waxed cups rimmed with the remnants of the multicolored lips that had tasted them

Whirling pastel colored tea cups

Brightly painted swings tossing you through space

Roller coasters racketing through differing heights of frightened ecstasy

And the pièce de résistance---the Ferris wheel

At night glowing with a promise

Stalls filled with piles of stuffed prizes daring you to take them away

Glittering prizes that dazzle no one but the youngest of minds

Maybe I’ll win one for Cara

One for my brother too

I see how he looks at her

He thinks she’s taken his place

Cara is dressed all in white

Her dark hair curled behind her ears

She wears the earrings I’d gotten her for her birthday earlier that month

We ride the roller coaster

Squeeze into the pastel tea cups

Get tossed through space on brightly colored swings

Are dizzied by the Tilt-A-Whirl

We munch on peanuts

Get sticky with pink wisps light as air, sugared funnel cakes, and cooling ice cream

We burn our fingers on fries we’re too impatient to let cool

And quench our thirst with multi-colored drinks

The lights from the Ferris wheel beckon us

“One last ride” I tell my brother

He nods his agreement

We sit together

My brother in the middle

There is space between me and my brother

None between him and Cara

I was wrong

It is she who has taken my place